Permanent rosary



SePf- 29, 1953 J. J. cuMMlNGs ETAL PERMANENT ROSARY Filed Sept. 19, 1950lNVENTORS: JAMES J. CUMMINGS ANTNY J. SHIMKUS AT TOR NEY Patented Sept.29, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE James J. Cummings Hanley Hills,ISt. Louis, and Anthony .L Shimkus,` St.. Louis, Mo.

Application September 19, 1950, Serial' No. 185,648

(Cl. 35u-23)` Claims.

rIhisa invention relates to rosaries used by'menb bers of the Catholicfaith in. saying or counting prayers of the: rosa-ry; Such rosaries areusually' in the form of a string of beads which may be worn or carriedby the user. Rosaries of this type, however, are not always at hand whenWanted and under certain conditions are not particularly convenienttohandle. Furthermore, the string sometimes breaks, resulting in.scattering and possible loss of some or all of the beads..

We have therefore devised a rosary in which beads or bead-like membersare permanently or fixed-ly arranged on a frame of. rod formationcomprising sections which are hingedly or flexibly connected so that itmay be: folded to convenient size for carrying in a mans pocket or aladys handbag, and which may, if desired, be placed in a small case forprotection and for retaining it in the collapsed condition.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a compact, ruggedand convenient permanent rosary of this character which may be carriedon the person at all times, the same as a man-s` watch or pocket knifeor a ladys compact.

A further object is the provision of such an article in which the beadsYor bead-like members are conveniently arranged in such sequence andrelative positions'` as to facilitate the counting and recitation of thecustomary components oi the rosary prayer.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the device showing the parts in unfolded orextended position ready for use;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational View of the device in its collapsedcondition with sections thereof folded upon each other, taken from theleft side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the collapsed rosary, taken from above Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an end elevational view, taken from the left in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional View of one of the connecting links, taken on thesection line 5-5 in Fig. 4 and showing one of the bead-likeprotuberances which, in this embodiment, are illustrated as being castintegrally with the link.

As thus illustrated the device comprises a plurality of oblong sectionsin the form of continuous or closed loops identied by the referencenumerals II, I2 and I3. Said loops are pivotally connected together andsuitably spaced by means of links I3 which have end bearing portions I4loosely mounted on adjacent,V reaches of the loops which they connect.The loops, as well as the links, are made of rods which are of rigidconstruction and the loops are adapted to fold upon themselves, as shownin Figs. 2, 3I and 4 of the drawings when it is desired to arrange thedevice in collapsed condition for convenient carrying. When in suchcondition the device may be inserted in a pocket case if desired toprotect the same and to retain itt in compact form.

On the rods of the several sections of' the device, as well as oncertain of the links lf3', beadlike protuberances I5 are formed eitherby being cast integrally with suchrods and links (as show-n). or bybeing permanently attached thereto.

The beads on the right hand leg or reach IIS of the loop II arev tive innumber' and are arranged with the end beads spaced substantially from aseries of three in the. center. This is to conform with the. preliminaryexpressions of the prayer, as will be understood by' those familiar withtheuse of rosal-'ies'.

Theleft handlegY IT of said loop II has ten beads l5 thereon, as doeaclfiI of the legs I8 of the loops lf2 and i3, these series orsequences of beads conforming to the Ave Maria decades of the prayer,which of course may be repeated by vgoing overI the device: as manytimes as required.

On one of the links l-3 between the loops II and I2 there is a singlebead IIS, as there is on one of the links between the loops H!A and I3.Likewise a single bead is formed in one of the end reaches I9 of each ofthe loops I2 and I3 so that provision is made for the expressions at thebeginning and ending of each of the decade sequences.

A cross 2| is, or may be, incorporated in the leg I6 of the loop II forpurposes of ornamentation and appropriate religious significance.

When the device is in the collapsed condition illustrated in Figs. 2, 3and 4 the loops or sections II, I2 and I3 of the device overlie eachother with the loop I3 at the bottom and the interconnecting links I3assume an angular position as shown in Fig. 4. The beads I5 on the rodswhich overlie each other are preferably a1'- ranged in staggeredrelationship, as indicated in Fig. 2, to facilitate the nesting of thesections into one another, thus making the device more compact andstable when 4in the collapsed condition. As previously noted, the foldedor collapsed device may be inserted in a case and it will be evidentthat the construction provided by the invention will be of great utilityand convenient to those desiring to carry with them 3 at all times arosary which is of permanent and rugged structure and which is notsubject to breakage or to the other handicaps of strings of beads whichhave customarily been used as rosaries in the past.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness ofunderstanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understoodtherefrom, but the appended claims should be construed as broadly faspermissible in view of the prior art.

We claim:

1. A permanent rosary device comprising a co1- lapsible frame includinga plurality of sections vand interconnecting links pivoted thereon, said,sections and certain of said links ybeing made of :rods having xedprotuberances thereon in the form of beads, said beads being arranged insequences with at least one decade sequence in each section and with aterminal bead between each decade sequence ofl the device and the onenext to it for setting 01T one from another, for the recitation of theprayers of the rosary.

2. A permanent rosary device comprising a collapsible frame including aplurality of hingedly connected sections of continuous loop formationmade of rods having fixed protuberances thereon in the form of beads,said beads being arrange in sequences with at least one decade sequencein each section and with a terminal bead between each decade sequence ofthe device and the one next to it for setting oi one from another, forthe recitation of the prayers of the rosary.

3. A permanent rosary device comprising a co1- lapsible frame includinga plurality of sections of continuous loop formation and interconnectinglinks pivotally connecting said sections together in spacedrelationship, said sections being arrangeable one upon the other whenthe device is in collapsed condition and being made of rods having fixedprotuberances thereon in the form of beads, said beads being arranged insequences with at least one decade sequence in each section and with aterminal bead between each decade sequence of the device and the onenext to it for setting 01T one from another, for the recitation of theprayers of the rosary.

4. A permanent rosary device comprising a collapsible frame including aplurality of hingedly connected sections made of rods having xedprotuberances thereon in the form of beads, said sections beingarrangeable one upon the other when the device is in collapsedcondition, with the beads of adjacent sections arranged in staggeredrelationship and with said rods spaced apart by a distance less than thediameter of one of the beads so that the beads on one rod may enterbetween two spaced beads on an adjacent rod to permit nesting of thesections in compact form, the beads of the first section in the order ofunfolding of the collapsed device including a preliminary sequencecorresponding to the customary opening utterances of the prayer, and theremaining beads of the device being arranged in decade sequences, with aterminal bead between each decade sequence of the device and the onenext to it for setting on" one from another, to facilitate therecitation of the prayers of the rosary.

5. A permanent rosary device comprising a collapsible frame including aplurality of hingedly connected sections made of rods having fixedprotuberances thereon in the form of beads, said sections beingarrangeable one upon the other when the device is in collapsedcondition, with the beads of adjacent sections arranged in staggeredrelationship and with said rods spaced apart; by a distance less thanthe diameter of one of the beads so that the beads on one rod may enterbetween two spaced beads on the adjacent rod to permit nesting of thesections in compact form, the beads of the rst section in the order or"unfolding of the collapsed device including a preliminary sequencecorresponding to the customary opening utterances of the prayer, and theremaining beads of the device being arranged in decade sequences.

JAMES J. CUMMINGS.

ANTHONY J. SHIMKUS.

References Cited in the iile oi this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 580,516 Andrew Apr. 13, 1897 733,045 Huettel July 7, 1903826,732 Monachimoff July 24, 1906 1,661,877 Costello Mar. 6, 19282,213,516 Beehan Sept. 3, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date33,834 Sweden May 6, 1910

